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Topic: For Leni Opal Open in blue (Read 3189 times)

As promised, took a little searching, but here is Leni's opalescent piece in a different color and different shape. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y283/Muscadale/Tbeadedpanelsoropenopal.jpg I tried my best to show the opening in the stem. As Leni pointed out the repros do not have this opening. You can also see three of the four mould lines. This was orignally done by Northwood. Then by Dugan/Diamond. The intertwining of Northwood and Dugan makes for interesting reading. Terry

I love the blue, Terry, (but I still like the green best I think) and the shape of the blue bowl in your picture is very nice, too. When I posted the question about mine, I wasn't sure what to call the shape of it. Does anyone know what the different shapes were called? :?

Hi Leni, What we call the different shapes can vary. Yours is probably what is called the novelty vase, it flairs out at the rim. If it folded in it would be the rose bowl. Mine is the novelty bowl. If mine were flatter it would have been the card receiver. I just found two more, one like yours in white opal and one in carnival again a novelty bowl but with more ruffles than the blue one and in the color called peach opalescent. Its fascinating because it appears there was only one mould and all the different shapes were created by hand. Hope this helps Terry

I find this piece interesting - I did find the shape Beaded Panels, by Dugan on the Carnival website - guys says

Quote

I can't recall seeing any that weren't pretty much like the example shown here

yet the Dugan one is clearly different from your example with a ruffled rim - he does say it was known in opal glass before it was made in Carnival (you get lot of pieces of opalescent carnival glass, is he using date as a indicator?)

Glen you mention the original Northwood mould was passed on to Dugan, so that would mean the ruffled edge?

Is your piece #562 by Northwood when they originally made it as an opalescent piece perhaps as 'Harry Northwood Glass Company'

Adam D555

I ask these questions as I have a chance at good opalescent glass that also seemed to transmute into Carnival with slight variations

I shall post a few pics later on

Logged

David is my Father's name, 555 is the number of man ('The Pixies'), but please call me ADAM P.

As I said earlier the subject of the Northwood and Dugan families makes for interesting reading. This is going to be a short history lesson. To start Thomas Dugan was Harry Northwoods uncle. In 1896 Harry Northwood bought Indiana glass co. With him in the new venture were Sam Dugan and his three sons, Thomas A.E. Dugan Alfred Dugan and Sam Jr. This became the Northwood Co. In 1900 Harry sold the plant to National glass ( this included all moulds) and went back to England. Thomas A.E. Dugan was the plant manager. In 1904 Thomas A.E. Dugan bought the plant and formed Dugan glass. It has taken years to sort out who exactly made what and is still ongoing. As to variations, I have looked closer at my three peices and there is a variation in the rim so that would seem to indicate more than one type of mould. As to the ruffling, that was done by hand so the variations one finds are tremendous. Dugan's carnival is among some of the best and I have often wondered if that is why when Harry set up his new factory he made sure his were marked with the famous N. The Northwood and Dugans may have been related, but competition is still just that. Opalescent came before Carnival and when you have a new Fad (Carnival) you try it on moulds you already have. Dugan made many patterns in what is called peach opalescent. This is white opalescent with a marigold carnival treatment. Northwood on the other hand did not do much in Carnival opalescent. This is probably way too long and will raise more questions, but I would like to add that Leni is so lucky to have a piece that is truly historical. Terry

I would like to add that Leni is so lucky to have a piece that is truly historical. Terry

Oh, wow! :shock: :shock: :shock: Now you just made my day / week / month!

And I have to tell how nearly I didn't bid on it :shock: :oops: :roll:

There was a massive collection of vaseline / uranium glass being sold, and I bid on a piece that I thought was possibly Stourbridge, with the leafy feet that I like to collect. I was also watching the rest of the collection go, and Jonathan looked over my shoulder and commented that he liked this one better. But lthough I did like this one, I was determined to get myself another 'triffid' :twisted: :roll:

However, I was outbid

I was cursing and moaning and Jonny said, "well, quickly put a bid in on the one I like." So I did! :shock: And got it!

And when took the time to really look, I realised I also liked it better than the first one - I was only bidding on that because it was a 'triffid' :roll:

So I have my good ole hubby to thank for this lovely little piece of history

And thank you so much again, Terry, for filling in the historical background!

Iâ€™ve been away, so please excuse this belated addition to something that is very close to my heart. The story of the Northwood and Dugan families does indeed made interesting reading. I have researched it (and written about it) and I also have the privilege of knowing some of the Northwood family descendants personally, so you may be interested to know a little more about the links and connections

The Northwood and Dugan families were English, of course. The name Northwood of course is renowned in British glass (John Northwood - Harryâ€™s father - created an amazing replica of the Portland Vase in cameo glass). Harry Northwood attended art school in the UK and was trained in the glass trade by his father.

Harry Northwood emigrated from England to the USA in 1881, about the same time that his cousin Tom (thatâ€™s Thomas E. A) also left the UK to earn his living in the American glass trade.

(Tom Duganâ€™s father and Harry Northwoodâ€™s mother - Elizabeth Dugan - were brother and sister. The â€śThomas Duganâ€ť who was Harry Northwoodâ€™s uncle was not the Tom Dugan who made Carnival Glass. Known as Uncle Tommie, he was in fact Uncle to both Tom and Harry, as he was the brother of Harryâ€™s mother and Tomâ€™s father. In fact Uncle Tommie had emigrated to the USA when Tom and Harry were both youngsters. He had gone into the glass business and he was on hand later to give them both financial help and expertise).

For a while the two cousins actually worked at the same glass plant (Hobbs Brockunier). In 1887 Harry Northwood (and some other investors) bought the disused Union Flint Glass factory in Martinâ€™s Ferry and renamed it â€¦the first Northwood Glass Company was founded. There were various re-locations of Northwood Glass, including (in 1895) the factory in Indiana, PA. During this period of re-location, the two cousins had stayed and worked together, and indeed Tom Dugan was plant manager at Northwoodâ€™s Indiana, PA works (his brother, Alfred Dugan, was plant foreman).

It gets trickier now! In 1899 the two cousins went their separate ways. Harry went back to England (for a while), having sold the Indiana glass plant to the National Glass Company. Five years later, Tom Dugan bought the Indiana glass plant and re-named it the Dugan Glass Company. At around the same time, Harry Northwood went back to the USA and bought another old glass factory (Hobbs Brockunier, in fact) in Wheeling, WV. He called it Harry Northwood & Company.

Itâ€™s this final step that has caused some of the glass identity problems that beset Carnival for years. Northwood made his Carnival glass at Wheeling - but his cousin, Tom Dugan, made his Carnival at the old Northwood factory of Indiana, PA. And the tricky thing was, of course, Dugan was using some of the old Northwood moulds.

In 1908 Northwood began making iridised glass - Carnival.

Dugan was certainly experimenting with iridescence for a few years, but his Carnival lines didnâ€™t hit the market until 1909.

One tricky piece is called Nautilus - and is known in peach opalescent (a Dugan signature color) but it sometimes bears the Northwood script signature. This was undoubtedly made by Dugan using his cousinâ€™s old mould, before removal of the moulded signature.

Duganâ€™s Carnival is certainly greatly admired - though I think most Carnival collectors would say that his cousin, Harry Northwood, had the edge on him.

Terry, you said Northwood on the other hand did not do much in Carnival opalescent. What? Perhaps you mean that Northwood didnâ€™t do much PEACH opalescent Carnival? Thatâ€™s for sure - there are a few examples but they are rare and very sought after indeed. However, Northwood is hugely famous for making opalescent Carnival on aqua base glass. His aqua opal is possibly the most sought after color in Carnival - and in fact holds the record for the highest price ever paid. This was for an aqua opal Peacock at the Fountain punch set.

Anyone want to guess what it sold for?

Oh, and if anyone is at all interested, hereâ€™s a pic of me and Steve with Harry Northwoodâ€™s grand-daughter - the late Miss Elizabeth Robb. http://tinypic.com/eikuu1.jpg(Iâ€™m kneeling beside Miss Robb - Steve is standing behind me)She was a magnificent lady and a devoted collector of her grandfatherâ€™s glass. At her home in Wheeling she had some of the most magnificent examples of his work, including some Silveria vases. She also had a piece of cameo glass that Harry had carved - it was exquisite. If anyone is in the area, donâ€™t miss the Oglebay Institute which has some wonderful examples of Northwoodâ€™s glass.

Also in the photo are David McKinley and his wife, Mary (both standing left). Davidâ€™s great grandfather was Harry Northwoodâ€™s younger brother, Carl. In 1998, David McKinley began the New Northwood Art Glass Company in Wheeling, in a desire to keep alive his great uncleâ€™s glass tradition.

Thank you so much Glen for all that information. Now for a bit of humble pie, I should have said Northwood didn't make much opalescent Carnival that I can afford. The aqua Opal has to be some of the most beautiful glass ever produced. I saw an Acorn Burrs Punch bowl once in Aqua Opal and literally almost cried because of the huge crack that virtually was about to split it in two. Any information on David McKinley's venture. This is the first I have heard about it. Is it still going? Thanks Terry